SAN DIEGO — Sempra Energy agreed Wednesday to pay $377 million and change its business practices to settle class-action lawsuits accusing the company of conspiring to limit supplies and drive up prices during California's energy crisis in 2000 and 2001.
Sempra admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, which calls for the company to reduce by $300 million the amount it charges the state under long-term power contracts reached during the height of the energy crisis.
The San Diego-based company also agreed to changes in its utility and natural gas operations that will ultimately yield a total of more than $1.8 billion in cost benefits, according to a statement by plaintiffs' attorneys.
The settlement came during a jury trial in San Diego Superior Court that threatened to bankrupt the company with potential damages as high as $23 billion.
Plaintiffs included Continental Forge Co., a Compton company that makes precision aluminum parts, the city and county of Los Angeles and the city of Long Beach. Sempra also settled a separate lawsuit brought by the state of Nevada.
"An adverse jury verdict upheld on appeal would have been fatal to the company," said Stephen L. Baum, Sempra's chairman. "We're not in the business of betting the company."
The agreement did not resolve lawsuits brought by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who accused a company affiliate of using illegal tactics to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in higher electricity prices. Baum said the remaining litigation against the company was "manageable."
Sempra said it will take a $100 million after-tax charge in the fourth quarter of 2005. Total costs of the settlement will be $350 million after taxes, the company said.
A spokesman for Lockyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the settlement.
Sempra went on trial Oct. 24 in a lawsuit filed in 2000 against two Sempra-owned utilities, Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric.
The lawsuit claimed executives of SoCal Gas, SDG&E and El Paso Corp. met in a Phoenix hotel room in 1996 and agreed to "carve up" markets in California and northern Mexico, avoiding competition that would have benefited consumers in a newly deregulated market.
In 2003, Houston-based El Paso Corp. settled legal claims and other complaints involving California's energy crisis for $1.6 billion.
The settlement with Sempra followed eight months of negotiations. In November, talks collapsed when Lockyer objected to the terms, said Pierce O'Donnell, the lead counsel for plaintiffs.
"We set out to accomplish two objectives five years ago: One, secure a measure of economic justice for California consumers and two, prevent another California energy crisis," O'Donnell said. "We accomplished both objectives."
He said California ratepayers would see lower bills, although he did not know how much.
The settlement is subject to approval by the court, Clark County, Nev., district court and the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The settlement calls for a payment of more than $170 million in attorney fees and court costs, subject to court approval.
Sempra reported net income of $895 million last year on $9.4 billion in revenue.